Symbiosis

Title: Symbiosis (Co-naissance)
- Video Art / Repeat Play (Chinese and French) / 2 minutes 48 seconds
Author: SOPHIE COLLINE, Creation Time: 2024
Author's identity: Contemporary artist, Associate Professor of FCU university
In Taiwan
《Title: Symbiosis (Co-naissance) 》
Inspired by the primeval forests of Alishan, Taiwan, Symbiosis is an interactive video installation that explores the centuries-old biological philosophy of epiphytic plants clinging to ancient trees. The visual centerpiece features a vibrant, fluorescent pink, cell-like alien entity—resembling a primordial molecule or a spreading virus—wandering through a mountain mist. Utilizing interactive technology, this entity appears to track human presence, blurring the line between the observer and the observed.
The auditory experience is a haunting linguistic fusion. A female voice, representing a deity or an alien consciousness, interrogates the boundaries of knowledge: "Do you know me? What is knowledge? Knowledge is symbiosis." Simultaneously, a male voice recites segments from the French poet Paul Claudel’s 1907 work, Art Poétique. The text explores how the world and the self are animated by the same "geometrical force," situating the human experience within a "homogeneous whole."
The physical installation grounds these digital visuals in reality. The video is displayed on a vintage television set, topped with contemporary artifacts: Fnac bookstore packaging and a secondhand copy of Art Poétique. By merging photography, digital editing, and physical installation, the work manifests the abstract concept of "co-existence." It explores the tripartite relationship of symbiosis: the connection between humanity and nature, the bond between individuals, and the profound dialogue between the human self and the divine. Ultimately, the film serves as a visual proof that to know the world is to be inseparable from it—a process of being "born together" with our environment.